Falling Free

Leo Graf was just your average highly efficient engineer: mind your own business, fix what's wrong, and move on to the next job. But all that changed on his assignment to the Cay Habitat, where a group of humanoids had been secretly, commercially bioengineered for working in free fall. Could he just stand there and allow the exploitation of hundreds of helpless children merely to enhance the bottom line of a heartless mega-corporation?

The Hallowed Hunt

The half-mad Prince Boleso has been slain by a noblewoman he had intended to defile. It falls to Lord Ingrey kin Wilfcliff to transport the prince to his burial place and to bring the accused killer, Lady Ijada, to judgment. The road he travels with his burden and his prisoner is fraught with danger. But in the midst of political chaos, magic has the fiercer hold on Ingrey's destiny, and Ijada herself may turn out to be the only one he dares trust.

The Sharing Knife, Volume 1: Beguilement

Young, pregnant Fawn Bluefield has just fled her family's farm to the city of Glassforge, where she encounters a patrol of the enigmatic soldier-sorcerers known as Lakewalkers. Fawn has heard stories about the Lakewalkers, who are wandering necromancers with no permanent homes and no possessions except the clothes they wear and the mysterious knives they carry. What she does not know is that the Lakewalkers are engaged in a perilous campaign against inhuman and immortal magical entities known as "malices".

Penric’s Demon: A Fantasy Novella in the World of the Five Gods

On his way to his betrothal, young Lord Penric comes upon a riding accident with an elderly lady on the ground, her maidservant and guardsmen distraught. As he approaches to help, he discovers that the lady is a Temple divine, servant to the five gods of this world. Her avowed god is the Bastard, "master of all disasters out of season", and with her dying breath she bequeaths her mysterious powers to Penric.

We Are Legion (We Are Bob): Bobiverse, Book 1

Bob Johansson has just sold his software company and is looking forward to a life of leisure. There are places to go, books to read, and movies to watch. So it's a little unfair when he gets himself killed crossing the street. Bob wakes up a century later to find that corpsicles have been declared to be without rights, and he is now the property of the state. He has been uploaded into computer hardware and is slated to be the controlling AI in an interstellar probe looking for habitable planets.

Proto Zoa: Five Early Short Stories

Protozoa is a word from biology via the Greek, meaning "first animals". These short stories were indeed among the first life spontaneously generated in Lois McMaster Bujold's nascent writing career. Along with an introduction by the author, this collection features the short stories "Barter", "Garage Sale", "The Hole Truth", "Dreamweaver's Dilemma", and "Aftermaths".

The Collapsing Empire: The Interdependency, Book 1

Our universe is ruled by physics, and faster-than-light travel is not possible - until the discovery of The Flow, an extradimensional field we can access at certain points in space-time that transports us to other worlds, around other stars. Humanity flows away from Earth, into space, and in time forgets our home world and creates a new empire, the Interdependency, whose ethos requires that no one human outpost can survive without the others. It's a hedge against interstellar war - and a system of control for the rulers of the empire.

The Spirit Ring

Fiametta Beneforte dreamed of making beautiful and enchanted objets d'art, but alas her magician-goldsmith father was more likely to have her scrub the kiln than study magic. After all, it was a waste to train a mere daughter beyond the needs of the moment.... Thur Ochs dreamed of escaping the icy mines of Bruinwald. But the letter from his brother Uri arranging his apprenticeship to Master Beneforte was not the only force that drew him over the mountains to the Duchy of Montefoglia.

Rosemary and Rue: An October Daye Novel, Book 1

The world of Faerie never disappeared: it merely went into hiding, continuing to exist parallel to our own. Secrecy is the key to Faerie’s survival—but no secret can be kept forever, and when the fae and mortal worlds collide, changelings are born. Half-human, half-fae, outsiders from birth, these second-class children of Faerie spend their lives fighting for the respect of their immortal relations.

Foreigner: Foreigner Sequence 1, Book 1

The first book in C.J.Cherryh's eponymous series, Foreigner begins an epic tale of the survivors of a lost spacecraft who crash-land on a planet inhabited by a hostile, sentient alien race. From its beginnings as a human-alien story of first contact, the Foreigner series has become a true science fiction odyssey, following a civilization from the age of steam through early space flight to confrontations with other alien species in distant sectors of space. It is the masterwork of a truly remarkable author.

David &amp; Barbara Allen says:"Good store but certainly a different kind of scifi"

Nice Dragons Finish Last: Heartstrikers, Book 1

Audie Award, Fantasy, 2016. As the smallest dragon in the Heartstriker clan, Julius survives by a simple code: keep quiet, don't cause trouble, and stay out of the way of bigger dragons. But this meek behavior doesn't fly in a family of ambitious magical predators, and his mother, Bethesda the Heartstriker, has finally reached the end of her patience.

On Basilisk Station: Honor Harrington, Book 1

Honor Harrington has been exiled to Basilisk station and given an antique ship to police the system. The vindictive superior who sent her there wants her to fail. But he made one mistake: he's made her mad....

Publisher's Summary

Dying is easy. Coming back to life is hard. At least that's what Miles Vorkosigan thinks, and he should know - having done both once already.

Thanks to his quick-thinking staff and incredible artistry from a medical specialist, Miles' first death wasn't his last. But it does take some recovery, a fact he has been reluctant to admit. When he makes the mistake of returning too soon to military duty, he finds himself summoned home to face the Barrayaran security chief, Simon Illyan.

But Miles' worst nightmares about Simon Illyan are nothing compared to Illyan's own nightmares. Under suspicion himself, Miles must seek out the answers to Ilyan's nightmares or see the inevitable destruction of Imperial Security and, with it, the Empire.

What the Critics Say

"Science fiction at its very best!" (Rave Reviews) "As ever with Bujold, Memory is a delight!" (Locus) "Bujold fans of long standing will justly hail [this] as a masterpiece that contains some of her finest prose and characterization. Bujold continues to prove what marvelous genius can create out of basic space operatics." (Booklist)

I love the whole Vorkosigan saga and cant say I dont like any one of the books. But we all have favorites and this one is mine. Yes, its not so action packed as most of the others, but it strikes a meditative, gloomy and very deep note inside me. It is a more adult book than the other to me, although all of the Miles books have concealed (well weaved) ideas which do not come across to everyone.

Miles Vorkosigan is used to having difficulties with his physical body — he makes up for this by being smarter than almost everyone around him. But in Memory, for the first time Miles is dealing with mental handicaps, too. So is his boss, Simon Illyan. This story is painful as we watch these two brilliant men have to give up the parts of themselves that they think define them. In fact, this happens for other characters, too. It takes a little while to get going, but in the end there’s a lot of change for everyone in Memory.

This book is a bit of a departure from the other Miles Vorkosigan books--not the one to start with if you have not read any of the others--but in many ways my favorite. It deals with themes of change, the difficulties of letting go of the past (especially when it has been glorious and successful) and moving on. Bujold's characterization is as always spot on and compelling. The narrator's relatively dry delivery suits Miles.

Grover Gardner has definitely got the hang of the Miles Vorkosigan books by now. He's not an inspired reader, but he's not a poor one, either. There's nothing about this performance to offend or mesmerize, and if you've heard many other Vorkosigan books, you'll know about how Gardner reads this one: perfectly serviceably.

The book, coming directly after _Mirror Dance_, is in some ways one of Bujold's best, and in others one of her most frustrating. The opening premise is difficult to sit still for, it's so uncomfortable: good writing, but not a pleasant experience. Once the initial, excruciating premise plays itself out, the book becomes far more engaging, and contains some of Bujold's best character work and writing. The problem is that for many readers, the central mystery is terribly transparent, and it's hard to spend hours (or a couple hundred pages) waiting for the certified super-genius to ask the question which occurred to the listener/reader after five minutes. The fact that this manages to be one of her best novels *in spite* of that says a great deal about the deft competence of the writing. Bujold is is one of those satisfying writers who make fandom pay off by getting better and better with age. _Memory_ so far exceeds the meager competence of the earliest Vorkosigan books that it's in a whole separate class. The only things which made the early books worth reading and rereading were the humor, the dialogue, and the characterization. _Memory_ has all that, and solidly good writing besides, with just that one little failure of suspense to put a crimp in its style.

'Memory' is easily my favorite of Lois Bujold's Vorkosigan series. It is very intense--in some parts I was laughing and crying at the same time--and is a huge character builder for Miles. One huge caveat, though--DON'T read/listen to this book first. In order to get the full impact of the main conflict, you have to know the personalities and issues of the characters that have been explored and developed over the last five or whatever books. Without that background I think the book would fall a bit flat. Don't get me wrong, it's a well written book on its own and the conflict is explored within the book--but that can't take the place of reading the development of characters over five or six full length novels.

Simply one of the best series of books written in the past 50 years, the Vorkosigan saga repays re-reading and re-listening every time. Bujold has the real writer's imagination along with a deft ability to weave speculative technology into fast-paced plots featuring deeply-felt characters. Although the series is set far away and far in the future, the human-ness of the stories keeps the reader's connection to the story line, no matter which of the characters' point of view is being offered.

Grover Gardner's reading of these stories is pitch-perfect, and he captures the essence of different personalities and even cultures without resorting to put-on accents.

For those who have been enchanted by Tolkein, The Sword in the Stone, and even Stephen King, the Vorkosigan books could be the next adventure!

While I would NOT recommend starting with this book, it is one of my favorites in the series. As with the first Miles book, Miles starts out by messing things up in a big way, in a way that is spectacularly uncomfortable both for him and for you. And then we get to watch him live through that. While there may not be as much surprise in the plot as some would like, there are plenty of lovely developments in this book as we get to know more about many of the characters that fans of the series have come to know and love.A great book about failure and recovery, memory and the loss of it, integrity and the loss of it.While you don't have to read all of the Miles books that come before this one to enjoy it, you should have a fairly good idea of who Miles is before you enjoy this.The performance is fine.

This series is quite enjoyable. I usually read or listen to a fantasy realm setting, but this has been a nice change in pace. The writings are full of adventure, technical intrigue, near-miss romances and innuendos, and of course comedy. I never know if it's going to be serious or hilarious from one minute to the next. Miles as a persona is limited physically but his intelligence and wit keep you enthralled with the question "What's can possibly happen next?". And if your like me and usually guess the ending early, these books provide surprises and twists almost to the very end.

Years ago I read Warriors Apprentice and at that time it was said it was the first in the series. I liked it, I would give it four stars. The series was very popular so I read more. Later it was said that Falling Free was the first, but I don't remember Miles even being in that one. It was unique and I would give it 3 and a half stars. Then I listened to Brothers in Arms and Cetaganda. These books bored me to tears. I would give them one star. I wasn't going to bother with anymore, but I have the hard cover (SFBC 50th Anniversary edition) of this book, so I thought I would try once more. With the exception of describing a 8 ft tall genetically enhanced warrior women as sexy, I found this to be terribly boring.

You know how most sitcoms, will eventually have that episode, where everyone reminisces about the past and they show out takes of older episodes. That is what this is. If you have not read all the books up to this book or if you had trouble staying awake, then this is like sitting at a table with a bunch of people who have know each other a long time but you just meet and they spend all night telling private jokes.

I will not be reading anymore books about Miles.

All of these books have high ratings, so maybe it is worth a try for you.